Dodge Stratus and Chrysler Sebring

Four new players, answering to two familiar stage names, open to good notices.

September 2000
By
FRANK MARKUS
Photos By
JIM FRENAK

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The opening-night preview of these cars turned out to be a bit like walking into the weekday matinee of a Broadway show and being greeted by a sign in the lobby announcing, "In today's performance, the part of the dashing sports coupe, Avenger, will be played by Stratus, better known for his solid-citizen sedan roles. And standing in for Cirrus, the lead sedan, will be Sebring, just in from her world tour as a topless dancer."

The "show" was a simultaneous rollout of four new cars built on two completely different platforms that formerly wore five different nameplates-Cirrus, Stratus, Breeze, Sebring, and Avenger-but now are limited to just the Stratus and Sebring monikers. The four-door versions, which still share their underpinnings with the Sebring convertible that "opened" last April in New York, are designed by DaimlerChrysler. Their now-homonymous two-door siblings are built by Mitsubishi, once again, on a stretched Mitsubishi Eclipse chassis.

It's tempting to attribute this name consolidation to synergies made possible by DC's recent purchase of a controlling interest in Mitsubishi, but that's not the case. In fact, the new cars no longer share Mitsubishi V-6 and Chrysler four-cylinder engines. Rather, it was a move to cut the cost of marketing four brands. Automotive Darwinism leaves us with the strongest sellers-the Stratus and the Sebring.

Both platforms are substantially upgraded with new engines, sheetmetal, and interiors. Top-end four-doors get an all-aluminum DOHC 24-valve, 2.7-liter V-6 with a dual-resonance intake manifold cribbed from the base Dodge Intrepid ES but rotated 90 degrees for transverse duty. Its output is down just slightly from the Intrepid ES's, at 200 horsepower and 193 pound-feet-a healthy bump from the old Mitsubishi 2.5-liter's 168 and 170. Base cars get last year's 2.4-liter four with upgrades for improved noise reduction and to meet the ULEV standard. The latter should help land lucrative government fleet contracts. A four-speed automatic (with AutoStick on top models) is standard in all four-doors. The low-selling 2.0-liter five-speed stick has been given the hook.

The Mitsubishi Eclipse we've known and loved donates its powertrains to the Stratus and Sebring two-doors. Our favorite, of course, is the 3.0-liter SOHC 24-valve V-6 linked up to a five-speed manual. Available only in 50-state LEV tune, it makes 200 horsepower and 205 pound-feet-the same as in California Eclipses. That's a hefty 22 percent improvement over the outgoing 2.5-liter six. A Mitsubishi 2.4-liter four anchors the lineup, generating 147 horsepower and 158 pound-feet of torque. Either engine can be had with a five-speed manual or a four-speed auto, with Mitsubishi's fore-and-aft-gate manumatic shifter (rechristened AutoStick) in top-of-the-line versions.

Shoehorning the taller 2.7-liter six into the four-door required raising the cowl and Pinocchio-ing the nose by about three inches. This dilutes the distinctive bulldog stance of the previous model. A rubber-isolated, arc-welded front-suspension crossmember boosts rigidity. It's also designed to shear off and slide beneath the car in a severe crash. This, along with added gusseting for side impacts, helps improve bending rigidity by 33 percent and torsional stiffness by 13. All the upgrades add about 100 pounds. Detail changes outlined in our Eclipse coverage (C/D, May and August 1999) boost two-door rigidity by 90 percent in bending, nine percent in torsion.

The brakes received special attention on the four-door. Larger calipers that are 25 percent stiffer pressing on low-noise semi-metallic pads that are four millimeters thicker greatly improve brake feel and longevity. Cooling ducts help reduce fade, and the ABS now provides electronic proportioning front to rear and side to side (for improved braking in turns). The pedal felt firm and communicative during hard running on a twisty handling circuit.

Dodge and Chrysler versions of both models have distinctly different shock, spring, and tire tuning tailored toward sporty handling at Dodge and ride comfort at Chrysler. Extra effort was expended to limit noise paths on four-doors, with new bushings and urethane spring isolators and anti-roll-bar mounts. Rebound springs inside the shocks allowed the front anti-roll bar to shrink. Wheel and tire diameters are up an inch, with 205/65R-15s fitted on base cars and 205/60R-16s on the top models.

Dodge and Chrysler engineers took a much more hands-on roll in tuning the suspensions of the new two-door models than they did on the Avenger/Sebring. The Stratus R/T model, the most athletic of the lot, is our favorite. It rides on 17-inch Goodyear Eagle RS-A tires with a larger rear anti-roll bar and a rigid pillow-ball bushing on the inboard end of the rearmost lateral link to reduce passive rear steering. All of this affords the R/T the best body-motion control, truest steering, and highest lateral grip of the bunch. Its exhaust is even tuned for a raspier snort when the hammer's down.

Both platforms get new interiors. The four-door's dash looms high and imposing. The look is intended to come off as mature and upscale, slathered with unconvincing faux-burled-wood trim. We miss the Cirrus's open and airy low-cowl look. It's a quieter interior, though, thanks to silencer pads on the rear wheelhouses, foam in the pillars, thicker front-door glass, triple door sealing, and better aero-dynamics. The engine sounds that penetrate the four-door's defenses are of a classier quality, too. Three-point pretensioned and force-limited belts all around, taller headrests, and standard side-curtain head airbags front and rear—a first in this class—make it a safer place to be as well.

DC's safety folks are not completely sold on the efficacy of door- or seat-mounted torso bags, which are necessarily compromised by the need to do no harm to a small child sleeping up against the door. Curtain bags pose less safety risk, and they have longer to deploy (heads reach the door a little after shoulders do).

Apart from the Chrysler corporate radio, the two-door's dash is pure Eclipse. There are three-point belts for all passengers, but no head bags. The rear seats are elevated for a better view out the wind-shield, and they're easier to get into, thanks to a memory flip/slide feature on the passenger's seat. Cup holders and reading lights are provided, too. It's not as comfy as a Toyota Camry Solara that was on hand for comparison, but it's viable for long hauls. That's important for the empty-nest boomers who made the Cutlasses, Monte Carlos, and Cordobas of the '70s so popular, some of whom are expected to flock back to coupes such as these.

Two trim levels are available in each model and body style: Sebring LX and LXi, and Stratus SE and R/T (two-door) and ES (four-door). Expect prices to start from $17,000 to $18,000 for the base cars and from $20,000 to $21,000 for the uplevel rides.

We're very impressed with the two-door models, especially the Stratus R/T, which bears more than a passing resemblance to the hot Charger R/T show car. Both Sebring models pick up the Ferrariesque grin that first adorned the Concorde, and their tail treatments aim for a 300M look. The coupe profile does the look justice to a greater degree. As for styling, the four-door cars strike us as a small step backward, with a more familiar Pontiac Grand Prix look to them. They lack the presence and stance of the old cars, and in some details—such as the seam between the rear quarter-panel and rear bumper fascia—they are just not as cleanly executed.

Fact is, they are all better cars. They're quieter, and their personalities are now better differentiated—meaning, although there are three fewer nameplates to choose from, there's more choice. The 2.7-liter feels right at home powering a Stratus ES four-door with AutoStick, and it never feels labored (as is the case in the bigger LH sedans). The Stratus R/T's 3.0-liter five-speed stick, with its greatly improved steering feel, is nearly as delightful to flog as is its Mitsubishi cousin. And both Sebrings are more compliant and comfortable. The new two-doors feel far more refined and substantial—a fact that the Eclipse faithful bemoan but that enhances the appeal of these cars.

More good news: all four-doors (and convertibles) will be built in Sterling Heights, Michigan (some were formerly built in Mexico, where Chrysler PT Cruisers are now hatched). That's good for consistent quality control—already a Cirrus/Stratus strong suit, if J.D. Power Initial Quality Study results are to be trusted. It also means that the plant will be capacity constrained, which should nix the less profitable daily rental-fleet sales that have flooded the used-car market and lowered Cirrus/Stratus resale values to well below those of the two-doors.

When the curtain fell on this preview, we applauded. As often happens, the understudies exceeded expectations and achieved a star quality of their own. We'll save the hard-nosed critical review until we've seen the real performance.